Boudica's achievements

Boudica took the Roman invaders by surprise. - After the terrible violation of her daughters and herself, Boudica plotted her revenge with the Iceni and Trinovantes in secret. The governor was away, fighting in north-western Wales, leaving what he thought was a docile and submissive people. Boudica and her followers chose their time well; the Romans were shocked and surprised by the uprising and by its size and aggressiveness.

She led the Celts to several victories against the Romans. - Boudica's warriors successfully defeated the Roman Ninth Legion and destroyed the capital of Roman Britain - Camulodunum (Colchester). They went on to destroy Londinium (London) and Verulamium (St. Albans). The Roman Army left these towns largely unprotected. The cost of Boudica's victory in these first three battles, in terms of human lives, was high. Warfare was brutal at this time and the towns were totally destroyed. Despite many people leaving the cities, between 70,000 and 80,000 thousand people are said to have been killed; of these about 2,000 were Roman soldiers. Tacitus says the Britons had no interest in taking or selling prisoners, only in slaughter by gibbet, fire, or cross.

She showed the Romans that women could be strong, brave, determined and leaders of men. - Roman society was very male dominated, women had little say in politics or business. They found dealing with powerful women difficult and as Cicero, a famous Roman writer and philosopher, said: "Our ancestors, in their wisdom, considered that all women, because of their innate weakness, should be under the control of guardians." Boudica defied this view and it was a great shame to the Romans that a woman had led a revolt that caused them so much trouble that the emperor Nero nearly withdrew his forces from Britain.

Because of her uprising, the Romans were more careful, and maybe more respectful, in their dealings with other British tribes than before. - The way that Boudica was treated when she protested against the seizure of the Iceni lands and goods, was unusual for 'client kingdoms'. Had half the estate been left to sons, would Decianus have acted in the way that he did? Realising he had caused the uprising and subsequent massacres, he fled from Britain. Later governors, under the order of Nero, never repeated the appalling treatment of subdued but compliant tribes, and used a more softly-softly approach.

Because of Boudica's uprising, the Romans introduced a fairer system of taxation. - Realising that it was important not only to have strong defences against further uprisings, but also to remove some of the causes of unrest, the Roman administration introduced a fairer system of taxation into Britain.

She has been an inspiration to other strong women down the ages. - At the time of Elizabeth 1st, much was made of the story of a strong, heroic British queen battling mighty foreign powers - many positive parallels being drawn to their present queen who was fighting the power of Spain. Boudica's influence had another resurgence when Queen Victoria came to the throne. The name Boudica means 'victory', and it was felt that Queen Victoria had been named after her. The Victorians acclaimed Boudica as a valiant British fighter against Roman oppression. It is ironic that she was fighting against an imperialist empire, which had much the same attitude of bringing civilisation to the 'savages' as had the British empire in Victorian times.